Get Ready – It’s Coming Your Way!

What happens when you shake an apple tree with ripe fruit on it?

The best apples fall to the ground and are ready to be scooped up. If you like apples, it would be best to have a basket with you to scoop them all up.

I’m telling you that because when the shaking comes (and it always comes), it’s best to be prepared, And by the way, I think I hear the rumbling off in the distance. And it’s headed this way.

How then should we live?

The apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:14-17 “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”

I’m guessing that you may have read that passage before, but you may not have seen what I only discovered this week. If you take hold of what I’m about to share and act on it, your basket will fill up with all the apples (opportunities) you can carry.

We’re told to walk circumspectly which is to say, to live purposefully, and the way we are to do that is to redeem the time, which means to buy back or purchase time. Now tell me, where do you go to purchase another day, another hour, even another minute?

But the Greek word translated as “time” was not the one that refers to chronological time. It’s the Greek word “kairos” which refers to a “decisive moment of time, a specific limited time of opportunity”. Paul is telling us to purchase (redeem) opportunities because we live in perilous times. So that begs the question, “what is the price of opportunity?“

The price of opportunity is preparation.

Benjamin Disraeli, British prime minister in the 1870’s, said it this way… “One secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes.” Abraham Lincoln said, “I will prepare and some day my chance will come.“

I’m telling you now, in no uncertain terms, to get prepared. Not by heading for the bunker, but rather to put yourself in a position to advance God’s purposes for your life.

In the Bible, people are compared to trees. (Judges 9, Isaiah 61, Psalm 1 to name a few). When people are shaken by events, fear takes over and they hesitate to act. They hesitate to invest. They hold on to cash, which causes prices to fall, creating great opportunities for those with reserves, who are prepared.

When the economy is shaken by world events, business owners tend to pull back. But the wise who are prepared, do the opposite and prosper wildly. While the world looks on in fear, the prepared see the shaking as their time of opportunity.

Think of it like a windstorm blowing through the apple orchard. While everyone else is hunkered down waiting for the storm to pass, the prepared are in the orchard picking up all the apples (opportunities) that the fearful let go of.

This stunning research makes my case…

McGraw Hill studied the recession that occurred between 1980 and 1985. Their study involved 600 companies from 16 different industries. Some maintained their ad spend. Some chose to actually increase it. Others either reduced or cut their ad budget altogether.

The findings were astonishing…

They confirmed that companies who maintained or increased their advertising during the adverse economic times in the early ‘80’s, experienced 256% higher sales than their competitive counterparts after the recession.

On the flip side, companies who retreated and chose not to advertise during the economic downturn, if still in business, experienced virtually 0% increase in market share and a modest rise in sales of just 18% on average once the economy regained traction.

Those companies who chose to be bold and advance while others were retreating, experienced a sales increase rate that was 14 TIMES HIGHER than those who held back!

Although those kairos moments of opportunity often arrive unexpectedly, part of preparation is discernment… paying attention, having situational awareness. For example, here in Florida before a heavy rain falls, there’s usually a warning breeze. You hear the rustling of the leaves and feel a decline in temperature. That’s your advance warning to take cover before the bottom falls out.

In my opinion, I hear the rustling of the leaves. Tectonic forces are about to shift in the world that will result in a lot of shaking. Like all shaking, it will be temporary, but I also believe it will be quite jarring.

When people are in fear, they litter the landscape with valuables.

Consider 2 Kings 7… The Syrians had besieged Samaria and the people were in serious starvation mode. Elisha let them know there was a seismic shift about to happen that would change everything in a single day.

At that same time, there were four lepers outside the city gates who figured they would die if they went in the city, but if they surrendered to the Syrians, they might at least survive. It was these lepers that decided to take a risk and went to the Syrian camp at twilight only to find there was no one there.

It was a kairos event of momentous proportions because the Lord had caused the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots and horses and a great army. It so terrified them that they fled leaving all their gold, silver, food and possessions behind for the Israelites to gather up.

HOT TIP: Fear God now… or be very afraid later!

Why?

Because the fear of God is an essential component of preparation and as Solomon said, “In the fear of the Lord there is STRONG CONFIDENCE”. (Proverbs 14:26) When the ground is shaking and the storm is raging, you will need strong confidence and that is what the Lord provides when you choose the fear of the Lord over the fear of circumstances or the fear of man.

Fear of circumstances or fear of man leads to very poor and often completely irrational decisions that can result in substantial loss. Consider 2 Chronicles 20… Jehoshaphat, king of Judah got word they were about to be attacked by an overwhelming force of enemy soldiers.

His first reaction was debilitating fear, but then he said to the Lord… “We have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.”

The prophet Jahaziel, knowing that fear would paralyze and doom them, spoke by the Spirit saying “Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s… You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.”

In response, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper.”

Jehoshaphat was so stoked by the promise of God that he sent out the choir in front of the army to sing praises to God, extolling His mercy that endures forever.

Who does that???

He had overcome his fear and was so confident in the fear of the Lord that he sent out the choir to sing. Talk about having strong confidence in the fear of the Lord!

That’s when God set up ambushes against the enemy. We don’t know what that looked like, but fear swept into the enemy camp and they began to fight against themselves until not one was left alive! Fear will always lead to poor decision making! In this case, it caused the enemy to lose everything and it took 3 days to gather up all the spoil!

Here’s my bottom line my friend…

The first part of preparation is the fear of the Lord. It is the beginning of wisdom and a fountain of life. Wisdom will lead you in the way you should go and enable you to make huge strides in the advancement of His purposes for your life.

If you want to know what the fear of the Lord looks like in practical terms, dive into the Word and observe how the patriarchs, the prophets, the disciples and other leaders related to and interacted with the Lord. They certainly didn’t look at Him as one of their “homies”. They walked in the fear of the Lord and led lives that we are reading about thousands of years later.

Care to live life on that level? If you’re in the business arena, consider getting your set of God’s Best Kept Secrets. It’s a collection of 101 of the most powerful secrets for success I’ve discovered from God’s Word and Natural Law. You’ll never be the same after reading them!

Until next time, be fruitful and unafraid!